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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Review WORLD WAR Z (2013)

Tough mission ...

Again I went to the movies hoping to see something extraordinary. About what I found, I don’t know what to write. About the good parts... I don’t have what to say, about the bad ones... I could. Do I do it, or do I not? The problem is that I read and reviewed Max Brooks’ World War Z (see HERE). I liked the book, but the movie... it’s not the book’s adaption. It begins with an idea from the book, it’s inspired by the book.

I went to watch the movie alone certain that, well, it was rated 15+, it would be a zombie movie, so the guarantee of entrails, spilled blood and other organs flying through the air, would be there. During the movie, I was wondering over and over if this could be a censored version. I think General Audience rating would have been more appropriate. You won’t see anything of what you know about a zombie movie. Anyone can go watch it ... Zombies? Nooo, they are more similar to the creatures from the English movies like 28 Days/Weeks After, or from Quarantine. They are extremely fast, sometimes they do some kind of jumps like they’re werewolves, and the human flesh consumption is completely forgotten. All they’re after is the infestation of the healthy ones.

The book was talking about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, about the consequences of the war, where had all began, the statements of the survivors, and all of it had logic. They took some ideas, modified them and served them in a nice wrapping, but that’s all. In the movie the action happens right at the start of the general madness, but, like I said, there are extracted just a few ideas from the book. For it to have a finality, and for the movie to last only about two hours, they cut out entire chunks of the story.

I do think, with sincerity, that the book was wasted. The ones who read it would better not relate to it. I know it’s hard, but only this way the movie could be more digestible. It starts promising, but when the action gets on the move you have the sensation that they realized there’s not enough time for the rest of the script and all becomes a rush, something hurried up not to end it before they reached a conclusion.

About the style, I think it would have been more suitable a shoot with a portable camera, something like in Cloverfield, it would have increased the dramatism and the tension of the scenes. I know that it’s harder to follow and more exhausting, but this is my opinion. This would be another problem: the tension release has its own purpose in some context, but here it’s like a punch in the face. A zombie that clamps his teeth like Mr. Bean is not welcome, and the scene becomes hilarious and it looses the dramatism. And the ending... they didn’t get tired of these apotheotic endings, where all the people get their hands on the shovel and mobilize? Sounds a bit obsolete to me. There are other ways of ending a movie with a happy end.

I don’t want to tell you about other slips from the movie because I don’t want to give you spoilers, so I’m going to stop here. It’s enough.

So: for the ones who have read the book and liked it, as well as for the fans of the genre, I don’t recommend it. For the fans of Brad Pitt (if they like him a bit more wrinkled) as well as for the ones who want to watch a soft zombie movie, I wish them to enjoy it.